Recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), now the Health and Medicine Division (HMD) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), for the current Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for sodium and potassium were published in 2005 in the report Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. DRIs are a set of evidence-based nutrient reference intake values for a range of age, gender, and life stage groups that are used in the US and Canada in planning and assessing diets of healthy individuals and groups. They are used widely as reference values in the design and evaluation of research studies and results, in development of dietary guidelines and food guides, in planning and monitoring nutrition-related public health programs and initiatives as well as diets for military personnel, in assessing the nutritional status of individuals and groups, and in patient and consumer counseling and educational programs.